Representatives Review Proposal For Incinerators

Officials from Broward`s 28 cities got their first look Friday at a proposed agreement to supply garbage to two incinerators the county plans to build by the end of the decade.

Attorneys for Broward County and the League of Cities have spent a year preparing the agreement, which would establish a Resource Recovery Board to supervise the two plants. The plants would be financed through a $521 million bond sale.

That board`s major duty would be setting fees, the major topic of conversation at a workshop in which the city officials wondered how much the new plants would cost residents.

Broward County charges $22 per ton at its landfill in Davie, although the County Commission will soon consider an increase to $25 per ton.

Last year the fee rose from $16 to $22 per ton. That extra $6 resulted in the monthly garbage charge in Hollywood increasing 40 cents a month, from $4.95 to $5.35, City Manager James Chandler said.

Now cities face what may amount to a $13 per ton increase over the next five years.

Thomas Henderson, director of the Broward County Resource Recovery Office, said the fees at the new garbage plants -- scheduled to open in 1989 -- should be about $35 a ton.

That fee could go up with a rise in the annual Consumer Price Index, a proposal that some city leaders questioned.

The proposed agreement also states that if the tipping fee fails to pay the costs of operating the plants, the Resource Recovery Board can assess the cities a service fee, which would also be passed onto residents.

Smaller meetings for cities in northern, central and southern Broward have been scheduled to work out the final details of the agreement. County officials hope to have commitments from all 28 cities by the end of the year.

Garbage has become one of the most important topics in Broward County, an urban area that produces 3,300 tons of refuse a day.

Miramar City Engineer Milan Knor told the assembly that 3,300 tons of garbage is the equivalent of 200 feet of garbage stacked on the floor of Lockhart Stadium -- 20 stories of rubbish.

Opponents of the garbage plants say they shouldn`t be built because of air and water environmental problems, but Knor said that would produce a third: ``We`re going to be buried in our own waste.``

The County Commission is scheduled to meet July 2 to select the firm or firms that will build and operate the garbage plants. The northern one is to be located near Copans Road and Interstate 95; the southern near State Road 7 and State Road 84.